Rating: 
Summary: King at his not so greatest.
Review: This book is certainly not one of King's best. It has most of the elements that make a Stephen King book great but it is lacking something. Being over 600 pages long doesn't help the matter.
The plot is where the major problem lies. I'm still trying to decide if this book was about a retarded boy with magical powers, space aliens, or four friends who could "see the line". King tries to tie everything in this book together with the "dreamcatcher" and it just doesn't jive(for me anyway). The idea of the dreamcatcher isn't very clear and seems almost thrown in as an afterthought(or for a cool title).
Dreamcatcher does contain entertaining reading and it will pull you in at certain points. King is a genius at shocking and making you laugh, even in this book. However, there are times when it feels like a chore to read.
This isn't a horrible book, it's just extremely mediocre. It may be that I've become spoiled by all of Stephen King's wonderful novels. If this was book written by another author I may have given it another star but I must grade King by his own standards which are very high.
Rating: 
Summary: Back to King
Review: Mr. King gets back to the basic King Style of writing with Dreamcatcher. Although knowing this isn't reality he somehow makes you once again double guess yourself. Bringing with it the possibility of what may or not be out there. Appaulse to the King for keeping you hooked til the end. Worthwhile midnight read..... SWEET DREAMS ALL
Rating:
Summary: Dreamcatcher -- A Bad Dream
Review: Stephen King did his best in the days of "The Stand" and "It." Lately (the past couple of years or so) he's average, at best. Dreamcatcher was disappointing due to its tired "flashbacks" and lack of a moving plot. He's still a master of words and sentence structure, but he's lost his old "exciting plot" ability. AND, don't even watch any TV or movie programs in which he was a co-producer!
Rating: 
Summary: Derivative
Review: My wife, who enjoys most of King's work, read this book before I did. She was disappointed with the book. I read it, and was disappointed with it. A co-worker saw me reading it, asked if he could borrow it, and he was disappointed with it. He gave it to HIS wife, who was disappointed with it. See a pattern here? ("Yes," you say, "you pass out books like you're a freaking lending library.")When reading this, if you have read King's other books, you will get a serious case of deja-vu. Telepathy, teeth falling out, alien possession, etc. In and of itself that's not necessarily a bad thing, I can accept an author reusing his own ideas. What hurts this book is that the journey to the end is sooooo looooooong. The car chase just goes on and on and on..... Having said that, I still gave the book 3 stars for three reasons: (1) Once sucked in, I couldn't stop reading until I reached the end; (2) King can still take rehashed material and make it somewhat interesting; and (3) I liked the bit with the bacon. I think with any other author, I would have been happy with this outing. Some authors, good authors, are what I think of as King-lite. Not quite as good, not quite as original, but still worth a read (coughcoughDeanKoontzcoughcough). I just didn't expect this from King himself. So, should you read it? If you really want to, I would say go ahead. If you're not sure, I would say wait until the movie is released (I think 2003).
Rating: 
Summary: Catch a Great Read
Review: I put off reading this novel for almost a year after I bought it. Shame on me. I was expecting a snoozer a la Bag of Bones. What I got was a book that took me back to the days of It, The Stand, and Needful Things. Mr. King tells us in the Afterword that he wrote this novel longhand rather than using a word processor. I think it made a difference. His love for the art of writing shows on each page. The rhythm and flow of the words are unforced and natural. Dreamcatcher is bravura storytelling. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Creepy on so many levels
Review: Like every other reviewer will tell you, Dreamcatcher is reminiscent of many other King novels. I'll offer that it also reminded me a bit of the movie 'BEING JOHN MALCOVICH.'
Yet somehow Dreamcatcher maintains its orginality. The gross-out factor is used in Dreamcatcher, and I am cool with that as long as I don't have to see it on the big screen! Gross-outs include things like brains being splattered, and creatures growing in and extruding themselves from bowels.
Blood & flatulence: Now thats entertainment. This book was one big guilty pleasure because I just couldn't put it down. I laughed out loud throughout, and cried a bit at the end. I wonder where the term "President Okeefenokee" came from if this book was completed 6 months before the 2000 Bush vs. Gore presidential election? Creepy on so many levels. As a King "Constant Reader" I just might have to say this is my new favorite story.
Rating: 
Summary: Visit the Library
Review: First let me say I love Stephen King. I'm pretty sure I've read everything he has written. I've seen most movies he's been involved with. But I have to tell you.... Coming from Stephen King, this book is a huge let down. I am definitely more of a fan of the "old" King.I admit I haven't absolutely loved alot of his more recent works. But to be brutally honest: this book [stinks]. The plot is classic King. In a nutshell, four childhood friends are hunting in Northern Maine. Aliens land. Shadowy government organizations get involved. Our four heroes do battle with the aliens and the government and save the world and themselves. If this turns you off, you should forget reading anything by Stephen King. Pick up an Alice Walker novel instead. "Dreamcatcher" throws alot of characters at you. Despite the fact that it goes on for 600+ pages, there is precious little character development. I found myself caring very little about any of them. King also uses alot of pyschological imagery that is hard to follow. In my opinion, most of it is unnecessary. He also uses alot of symbolism relating to dreamcatchers, which frankly, seems like a stretch. It's almost like he added it as an afterthought to the final draft. After reading his notes at the end of the novel, I'm convinced that's exactly what he did.
If you've never read anything by Stephen King, don't start with "Dreamcatcher". "The Stand" and "It" are infintely superior novels. "The Tommyknockers" is a more lucid tale featuring aliens. "Christine" and "Cujo" are very good shorter novels. In his more recent books, "Bag of Bones" and "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" are almost as good. If you're a Stephen King die-hard, you're going to read "Dreamcatcher" no matter what I tell you. Remember what I said about the library!
Rating:
Summary: What a surprise
Review: I read, TommyKnockers, Thinner, Talisman (my favorite), and others by Stephen King I dont remember right now. I was expecting alot from this book. This book was nothing compared to his previous work I read. I found it boring, and confusing, some parts were not detailed enough, and why did he have to go describe exactly what EVERYBODY is thinking? Some of the characters were typical,and predictable. Most of all, I hate books that seem like they could become cheesy "made for tv" movies.
Rating:
Summary: An exceptional book from the king: can't finish it
Review: Being a very loyal Stephen King reader, as I started reading the book, I was very astonished that King published this book (you have the freedom to write, but this doesn't mean that you should publish it, right?) The story starts well, you think something good will come out of it, but even after a hundred pages -a lot of things happen but- nothing happens actually. After around 250 pages I could not go on reading any more, I pushed myself several times to move on, but it simply did not work at all, and then I realized that I actually don't care what is going to happen next, or what is going to happen in the end, and I don't care if they all die or survive, because I didn't have any feelings towards any one of the characters. Stephen King is the king of making people believe the unbelievable. But in this work he fails in putting 'unbelievable' things together to make a good story out of it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I think this is a classic horror and science fiction novel. Very intense, scary and thought provoking. The characters were very likable or hatable as good villains should be. This book ranks right up there with other King classics such as "The Stand".
| 
